Mrs. Pickering's Help Page.
If you got a failing grade in a course please see here for you options.
Help Topics:
Parent Connect
What is Parent Connect?
An easy way to find out by e-mail immediate information on your child’s:
- Attendance and punctuality
- Current grades
- Test and assignment results
- Missing assignments
We are fortunate to have a web-based program at the school which will allow parents with internet access to view their son/daughter’s school records at any time. The data available includes general school information and announcements, attendance data, teacher gradebook information, and current grades. In addition parents have the ability to have the program notify them (by means of an alert to their e-mail address) in the event of a number of situations including missed classes, assignments or failed tests. This program is available to parents by contacting the school Parent Connect Administrator by e-mail. They will then be assigned an ID and Password, and sent information on how to connect to the school’s web server.
CONNECT TO PARENT CONNECT NOW
How to get involved? .
Connect to PARENT CONNECT or more simply, you can use its “IP address” https://142.22.120.21/
If you are interested in participating in this program, please click here to contact Mr. Frank Flanagan.
Helpful Hints
Some Helpful Tips:
- Expect students to spend time on a regular basis studying and doing homework. Do your homework (i.e. bills, etc.) at the same time.
- School does not end at 2:48. It ends when you are ready for the next day, or the next quiz, or the next exam. A specific amount of time should be put in every day after school (and somewhere on a weekend) whether you have homework or not, making study notes, reviewing past quizzes and tests, or reading ahead.
- 20 minutes to a half-hour everyday on each academic subject results in higher grades, and greatly reduces the amount of time needed to study just before final exams.
- Student should be encouraged to choose when they do their school work. This helps cultivate good time management. However, to avoid a constant nagging scenario, they should commit to two or three school work sessions (specific times with their choice of breaks) on a calendar or on a slip of paper on the fridge when they come home.
- Help students find an area of the house that is conducive to good study habits. A dining room table is preferable to a bedroom behind closed doors.
- Do not study or do assignments in front of the tv. The jury is still out about music while studying. My advice is to pay attention to the effort you see your son or daughter putting in. If they are less distracted with the music, then it is probably okay. If they are not getting the results from the time they put in, then it is appropriate to question the value of the music. Without a doubt, heavy rock and reading Othello are not a good match.
- Encourage the use of MathHelp, Homework Club, a tutor or seeing their teachers for extra help as needed.
- Sign up for Parent Connect.
- Use the Agenda for writing notes to teachers.
- Do homework in 20-30 minute blocks of undistracted time that are followed by “rewards” (i.e. phoning a friend, computer time, etc.) Then repeat the cycle. Longer sessions are usually inefficient. Never work longer than your attention span. This only reinforces poor time management, and trains you to waste time.
- Always make a plan before beginning a school work/study session, and estimate how long each task will take you. Doing this fosters good time management skills and ultimately leads to doing work more efficiently (and yields much more free time).
- Contact Mrs. Docherty or Mrs. Pickering at Student Services with any of your concerns..
More Helpful Tips
The following tips on Parenting Ideas were presented by Dan Ramsden, a counsellor / parent educator at a previous Parent Workshop at R.E.M.S.S.:
- Model the behaviour that you want.
- Have the entire family do homework together.
- Create a mentor group for your son or daughter, and a support group for yourself.
- Family rules work better than ‘teen only” rules.
- Have regular family meetings.
- Create a healthy ‘rite of passage” for important transitions.
- Become an adolescent expert. Go to workshops. Read.
- Develop an individual relationship with your son or daughter.
- Be a “guide on the side’, not a “sage on the rampage”. Look for opportunities to influence, rather than control your teen’s decisions.
- Encourage traditions and rituals.
- Develop a Mission Statement that makes parenting goals clear. (Develop a family Bill of Rights that helps define rules and responsibilities.)
- Spend time with their friends, boyfriends/girlfriends, music, etc.
- Curfews should be mutually set by teens and parents.
- Don’t sweat the small stuff.
- Problems of a temporary nature are not permanent character flaws.
- Listen.
- Battle boredom. Provide opportunities. (Don’t stop giving invitations, just because they are not accepted.)
- Punishment teaches a teen to avoid getting caught, and to seek revenge. Logical consequences are generally viewed by teens as punishment anyway. Natural consequences work better; however, they are the most difficult to sit by and watch as a parent.
- Be aware of powerful negative language: “You’re lazy!” “You’re stupid!” “You’re never on time!” “Grow up!”
- Get involved: become a coach, manage a team, join a Band committee.
- Timing is important when disciplining and teaching. (When you are talking, make sure that you are not the only one listening!)
- Body language is important: eye contact, voice tone, posture. Learning how to keep communication channels open is more important than being right, if the other person doesn’t care.
- What did I do (or not do) that led to an “I”?
- What do I have to do to change the “I” to a real mark?
- When is the deadline for changing the “I” to a passing mark?
About Marks
When your son/daughter gets an “I” on a report card, it means “Incomplete” and he/she should be expected to answer the following three questions:
A common myth believed by students is that there is no point in doing work that was missed. The truth is that there are very good reasons for doing missed work, even if not for marks (i.e. being prepared for the final exam, and showing teachers that they have put in the effort). An “I” that is not “completed” prior to an assigned deadline may be changed to a failing grade by the Final Report Card.
Each teacher has the autonomy to create his/her own marking system. However, consistency in marking is often applied within a given department (i.e., science teachers generally handle missed labs in the same way). Some teachers allow rewrites for tests or quizzes, while others don’t. Some mark homework, others correct it in class, but do not count it for marks, and other teachers use completed homework as a prerequisite for writing an exam. In some classes tests and quizzes are weighted differently than assignments. I point out these differences because if students want to improve their marks, they must know exactly how they are being evaluated. It takes the guesswork out of prioritizing assignments and making good decisions regarding time management. Most teachers go over their expectations and mark systems in the first week of classes and include them in their course outlines.
A little more about marks:
Marks fall into two categories (formative marks and summative marks, in teacher lingo). Formative marks are those that a student earns as (s)he is learning new material. Summative marks reflect what a student has earned at the end of the learning period. The philosophy at Mountain is to place more weight (value) on summative marks. To illustrate this point let me give an example. I would be a lot less concerned about having a doctor cut me open after confusing the pancreas from the liver in a formative exam, as long as he did very well in the test (summative) that qualified him for his M.D.
Tutors
Need a tutor?
Every year a number of senior students are recommended as academic tutors for younger students. This year we have many excellent tutors available, many of whom are volunteering their hours for the community service requirements of their courses. In other cases there are tutors available that do it as a part-time job (approximately $8 to $10 an hour or more depending on their experience). If you have need of a student tutor, please contact Mrs. Pickering at Student Services. Arrangements will be made for the tutor and the student to meet and to set their schedule for sessions. Normally tutoring is arranged for one or two hours per week after school. We also have compiled a list of professional tutors and agencies that provide service in this area. (See attached.)
HOMEWORK CLUB
In addition students may also get help through our “Homework Club”. This service is available everyday until 3:30 p.m. where students can either just drop in to get help with a question or two, or they can stay and work on their homework, getting as much help as needed. Please see Mrs. Pickering or Mrs. McKinnon.
MATH HELP
MathHelp is also available Monday through Thursday from 2:50 – 3:30 p.m. for all students. See the schedule and location attached below:
Click HERE to see the "MATH HELP" Schedule for all Teachers
Who to see about these services?
Mrs. Pickering or Mrs. Docherty in Student Services
Please click here for a list of professional tutors.
This list is not an endorsement or acreditation from R.E. Mountain Secondary. It is for informational purposes only.